Oracle’s Acquisition of Sun Wins Approval of Europeans

The European Commission said Thursday that it had approved Oracle’s $7.4 billion takeover of Sun Microsystems after concluding that it would not significantly affect competition in the European Union.

“I am now satisfied that competition and innovation will be preserved on all the markets concerned,” the European competition commissioner, Neelie Kroes, said in a statement. “Oracle’s acquisition of Sun has the potential to revitalize important assets and create new and innovative products.”

The commission, the executive arm of the European Union, had begun a formal antitrust investigation in early September because of concerns that the combination could harm the database software market.

But the commission’s position appeared to soften after Oracle, the vendor of database programs, agreed to support MySQL, a free, widely used open-source database application that it would acquire with Sun. MySQL specializes in computer servers and networks.

Photo

Neelie Kroes is the European competition commissioner. Credit
John Thys/A.F.P. — Getty Images

In December, the commission indicated that it was “optimistic” that the deal between the two California companies would no longer pose a threat to the European market for database software.

At that time, Ms. Kroes said that Oracle had made significant commitments to support MySQL, which has been downloaded more than 100 million times in the last decade.

Ms. Kroes said Oracle, after it acquired Sun, would extend MySQL’s existing commercial licenses for up to five years. Oracle would also make binding guarantees to companies and individuals using MySQL that Oracle would not pursue intellectual property claims.

Since the fall, Oracle and commission investigators have been trying to work out a compromise.

The deal also received the approval of the Swiss Competition Commission on Thursday. Russia and China have yet to rule, but in a statement Thursday, Oracle said that it expected “unconditional approval from China and Russia and intends to close the transaction shortly.”

A version of this article appears in print on January 22, 2010, on Page B2 of the New York edition with the headline: Oracle’s Acquisition of Sun Wins Approval of Europeans. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe